


Unexpected Blood

by SamsLady



Category: Sign of Seven - Nora Roberts
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 09:33:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8619211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamsLady/pseuds/SamsLady
Summary: Twenty-nine years ago a doctor, influenced by Twisse, stole a baby from the hospital and told her parents she had died. Now, the blood brothers must find the baby to discover what her connection is to the events unfolding and how to use that connection to defeat Twisse once and for all.





	1. A Surprise From The Past

Word Count: Chaptered story – word count will be at the top of each chapter

 

Genre: Alternative Universe

 

Fandom: Sign Of Seven trilogy by Nora Roberts

 

Rating: PG - 13

 

Warnings: Violence – Mild Profanity – additional warnings may be posted with each chapter

 

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own any rights to anything you recognize from the books. Samara Turner, however, is my own creation.

 

Beta Credit: Terri

 

Author’s Note: I’ve always wondered what would happen if there was a seventh person involved in this story, and now I can tell it myself.

 

 

  
  
  
  


Chapter 1 - A Surprise From The Past (2,188)

  
  


“Are you ready?” Cal Hawkins asks his girlfriend, Quinn Black. The two of them share an affinity with the past and are able, especially when joining their hands and focus together, to view events that have happened in the past. He sits down on the rug in front of his couch and reaches for her hands. Surrounding them, sitting on various pieces of furniture or the floor, are their friends.. the four men and women who are in this whole mess with them.

  
  


“No,” Quinn responds as she joins him on the floor. Her eyes are full of apprehension, fear, and love as she crosses her legs and then reaches to take his hands into hers. “I'm not, but that doesn't change the fact that we're doing this.” She looks deep into his eyes, remembering how it felt when she was looking through the eyes of Ann Hawkins.

  
  


Cal feels as if he was slowly falling into a deep pool of water as he stares into Quinn’s eyes. Everything gently falls into blackness, the sounds around the two of them fading into nothing before gradually becoming clear once more. He opens his eyes to find himself staring down onto a hospital labor and delivery room.

  
  


_Caroline Turner looks at her husband, Bill, with eyes full of both exhaustion and love. Sweat was pouring from her brow, but she was smiling. “Did you see her?” she asks, her voice no more than a whisper._

  
  


_Bill Turner nods. “She’s beautiful, just like you,” he answers his wife. “They took her to clean her up. I’m sure they’ll be back in a few minutes.”_

  
  


_“Where’s Gage?” Caroline_ inquires _, knowing how excited their_ two year old _son is to meet his little sister._

  
  


_“He’s staying with Frannie and Jim,” Bill assures her, looking over toward the door at the sound of someone approaching. He grins. “Looks like they’re bringing her back to us already,” he comments, pride making his eyes shine. He looks back at his wife. “What are we going to name her?” he asks._

  
  


_Caroline smiles in return. “I think we should call her Samara Ann,” she states. She looks longingly toward the door. “What’s taking them so long? I can hear them whispering.”_

  
  


_The doctor walks slowly into the room a few minutes later, holding a clipboard in front of his as if it is a shield of protection. “How are we doing?” he asks Caroline._

  
  


_“I’m a little sore,” Caroline admits. She looks around the doctor, expecting to see a nurse coming in with their daughter. “Where’s Samara?”_

  
  


_“Is that what you chose to name her?” the doctor inquires, making a note on his clipboard._

  
  


_Caroline nods, a feeling of immense dread beginning to wash over her without understanding why she is getting the sudden flash of intuition. She glances over at Bill with fear in her eyes and reaches for his hand._

  
  


_“Where’s our daughter?” Bill demands to know._

  
  


_“I’m so sorry,” the doctor replies, sadness making his voice thick. “Samara’s heart and lungs were not fully developed, and they failed within minutes of the nurse taking her to clean her up and get her into an incubator. I don’t yet understand what happened. Everything looked fine in all of the tests that we ran throughout the entire pregnancy. We never foresaw any kind of complication, so we weren’t fully prepared for her coming five weeks early.”_

  
  


The scene shifts to follow the doctor later in the day.

  
  


_The doctor slips out an Emergency Exit door that he has disabled. His eyes have an_ almost-vacant _look to them as he hurries to his car as fast as he can without drawing suspicion to himself. He pulls the strap of the duffel bag he carries from his shoulder and lays it carefully on the passenger seat, fastening a seat belt around it before sliding behind the wheel and driving away from the hospital. Within an hour, he is walking along a trail in Hawkins Wood that leads to the Pagan Stone. He sets the duffel bag on the ground at the base of the stone, opening it and lifting out a tiny, perfectly healthy, baby girl. He lays her on top of the stone and falls to his knees as_ a the _life slowly drains from his body._

  
  


_The baby screams and cries as she lays on top of the stone, flames lifting into the air and surrounding the stone. The smoke from the flames intensifies and thickens, slowly lifting the infant into the air and carrying her out of the clearing and into the woods itself. She is nestled down next to a momma wolf who is nursing two other pups and left there._

  
  


The scene changes again, and this time Cal and Quinn are looking at a scene Cal remembers all too well.

  
  


_Cal, Fox, and Gage hurry to gather their belongings. Blood is on each of their faces from their noses, each is covered in dirt and soot, and all three wear matching faces of fear and shock. As they race from the clearing as fast as they can with their stuff, a young girl slowly emerges from a thick stand of trees and stares after them as a black smoke wraps itself slowly around her._

  
  


The scene shifts again, this time only a few months into the future. It’s obvious the little girl’s appearance hasn’t changed much.

  
  


_The_ _seven-year-old girl moves around the edge of the clearing, digging through the snow that covers the ground as she attempts to find fallen nuts and berries that might still be good to eat. She is dirty, naked, and thin. At the sound of a howl on the wind, she looks up and smiles. She hurries forward to meet the same wolf she had nursed from as a baby as the beast carries a carcass toward her. She pulls the rabbit from the wolf’s mouth and bites into it herself, eating it raw and drinking the blood before curling up beside the wolf and going to sleep._

  
  


The scene shifts again, the changing visions beginning to take a toll on both Cal and Quinn who are barely managing to stay upright.

  
  


_The girl, now fifteen, walks through Hawkins Wood. She sticks her tongue out toward the little boy as he appears, turning cartwheels along the side of the trail she is walking on. She knows he can’t hurt her. She stops at Hester’s Pool to get a drink before continuing on, no real idea of where she is going, simply knowing that she has to leave her clearing. As the trees begin to thin out, she hears a strange sound that makes her smile. Her steps quicken as she hurries toward it, but she stops quickly and ducks down behind a wooden fence as she sees a woman in the backyard of a house without knowing what she is looking at. She realizes the sound is coming from the woman as she hangs clothes on a line. Curious about what the woman is doing, she reaches toward her and almost moves into the yard. Then she begins looking back and forth from the woman to herself, her head tilting to the side as she notices the differences between them. After the woman disappears back into her house, the teenager slips into the backyard and studies the clothes on the line as she thinks about how different the woman looked. She pulls off a blouse and pants that look similar to what had been on the woman and fumbles for a few minutes as she figures out how to put them on herself._

  
  


As the scene shifts again, blood begins to pour from both Cal’s and Quinn’s noses. Their four friends immediately drop down beside them, hands going to their shoulders. They don’t try to see with them, simply use their strength to help the two keep going.

  
  


_The teenage girl sits inside the Bowl-a-Rama, studying three teenage boys as they work. Even she, with her lack of humanity, can feel the love the three have for each other. She reaches up to wipe away a strange moisture that suddenly begins coming from her eyes, frowning as she studies her fingertips and then licks them. When one of the boys, the roughest looking one, leaves the other two, she follows him. She keeps herself a few paces behind him as he grabs a couple of big bags and heads out the back door and into the alley that runs behind the bowling alley. She creeps out into the alley after him, moving silently and taking advantage of the fact that he’s distracted by his task._

  
  


_“Aren’t you even going to say hi?” another voice suddenly asks, holding a challenging air in its tone._

  
  


_The boy she had followed out responds without even looking over. “I’ve got work to do, Napper. What do you want?”_

  
  


_“I just want you to pass along a message to your buddy O’Dell, Turner,” Napper responds._

  
  


_“I’m not a damn messenger boy, Napper,” Turner answers. “Tell him yourself.”_

  
  


_“Aww. Don’t be like that.” Napper moves off the back wall of the bowling alley faster than Gage or the teenage girl anticipates. His fist connects with the side of Gage’s face, knocking the seventeen-year-old back a couple of steps._

  
  


_Acting on instinct alone, the teenage girl runs and jumps on Napper’s back with a scream. She sinks her teeth into the side of his neck and begins to claw at him._

  
  


_With a howl of rage, Napper grabs the girl by her arms and flips her over his head, tossing her toward Gage. “Getting girls to fight your battles for you now, Turner?” he asks,_ spitting _on the ground at Gage’s feet. Taking complete advantage of Gage’s distraction after tossing the girl toward him, he lunges toward his enemy with an open switchblade._

  
  


_The teenage girl, steadying herself against Gage for a few moments before regaining her balance, sees the knife and moves in front of Gage as if to protect him. She tries to grab the knife, seeing the sharpness of it and knowing it would hurt the boy, screaming again as the knife goes straight through the palm of her hand._

  
  


_Napper doesn’t slow down. As Gage tries to pull the girl back out of the way, he lunges forward again. He smiles in satisfaction as, this time, his knife hits home. As Gage falls to the ground, blood beginning to spread across the chest of the t-shirt he’s wearing, he yanks the knife out and takes off running with a triumphant laugh._

  
  


_Gage tries to sit up but falls back down. He turns toward the girl. “Are you okay?” he manages to ask as he struggles to remain conscious. He reaches toward her._

  
  


_The teenage girl shakes her head, not making a sound as she gets up and moves to straddle his hips. She presses her hands against the wound on his chest, the tears falling freely down her cheeks as their eyes meet and lock together._

  
  


_“I’ll be all right,” he states in a weak voice, reaching up to brush away a few of the tears. “What’s your name?” He frowns when she just keeps staring at him instead of answering, wrapping his hand around her injured one and lifting it so that he can see what kind of damage has been done. “I’ll have Cal and Fox take you to the hos..” his voice trails off as he stares in shock at her unblemished palm. There isn’t a mark on it, but he knows she was stabbed straight through it. Her hand healed itself just as his chest wound would eventually heal. “How..?” he starts to ask, fighting as hard as he can against the blackness that is threatening to overwhelm him._

  
  


_The back door of the bowling alley opens, laughter reaching their ears as his two friends walk out into the alley. “Gage!” Fox shouts. “What’s taking so long?”_

  
  


_The girl jumps up and runs off before Gage can say anything or grab her to stop her. He stares_ after _her helplessly before turning his attention back to his friends. “You guys are jerks,” he mutters just before succumbing to the blackness._

  
  


“Gage..” Quinn whispers as she begins to regain consciousness. She automatically reaches for Cal’s hand, feeling him laying next to her.

  
  


“I saw everything, too,” Cal responds, squeezing her trembling hand with his own. He looks over at the other four, who are back to sitting where they had been originally. “How long were we out?”

  
  


“A couple of hours,” Fox answers. “We were beginning to worry.”

  
  


“What did you see?” Cybil inquires. She looks at Quinn. “What’s it have to do with Gage? I thought you two were going to try and see where Ann put her journals.”

  
“We were,” Quinn states, “but things didn’t exactly go the way we intended. Instead, we learned something much more important.” She looks over at Gage, her eyes sad. “Your sister isn’t dead.”


	2. Discussing Possibilities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group tries to comprehend what it was that Cal and Quinn saw in their visions.
> 
> Word Count: 1,019

“That’s impossible,” Gage states bluntly in a voice devoid of any kind of emotion. He won’t allow himself to think about that day, still able to see the blood on the floor as he watches his mother being taken out of the junk shop. He can still remember her smiling at him and assuring him that everything was going to be okay.

“We’ve all heard what happened to her,” Fox adds. “We know that Mrs. Turner and Elizabeth both died during childbirth. There’s no way that could have been faked.”

“Besides,” Cal supplies. “The girl we saw was too old. Elizabeth would have been five years younger than Gage. There’s maybe two years difference between him and the girl that was in the alley with him. The time frame just isn’t right.”

“What did the two of you see?” Cybil questions.

“I’m going to make the two of you something to eat,” Layla speaks up, feeling more like she is in the way than anything else for the moment. She needs something to do to make herself feel useful. “You’re still looking too run down.”

“Think about it,” Quinn insists, ignoring her best friend for the moment. “That baby had to have been taken from a hospital or a home by someone. The three of you hadn’t released Twisse back then, but he had to have been able to still exert some form of influence over people from time to time. He knew the three of you were coming to release him one day. He knew that there would be one more major battle. He must have sensed the girl’s birth and decided it was too dangerous, for some reason, to allow her to remain with Gage.” She pauses and stares at Cal. “She was watching the three of you that night at the Pagan Stone. The first person she sees and decides to follow after she leaves what had been her home is her brother. There has to be a significant connection there.” She glances over at Gage. “She fought to protect you from Napper.”

“We just need to figure out what that connection is and how we can use it,” Cal responds, slowly realizing that Quinn is right. The girl must be Gage’s sister. It just feels right. He sighs. “Yet one more mystery we have to solve.” He groans quietly as he gets to his feet, reaching down and helping Quinn get up, too. This final Seven seems to be bringing more questions than answers as far as he is able to see. He knows this is supposed to be the time they stop Twisse from ever being able to hurt anyone again. He’s just having trouble seeing how they’re supposed to accomplish it. Everything is riding on the six of them, and he’s not sure they’re going to be enough.

As Cal and Quinn head into the kitchen to eat whatever Layla is preparing, Cybil grabs Gage’s arm to stop him. As soon as the two of them are alone, she turns to face him. “There’s something else bothering you.”

Gage glares angrily at her, but he knows that keeping things to themselves was not a good thing during this third and final Seven. The more they share with each other, the better prepared they become to face the evil they are up against. “She healed herself,” he finally answers, speaking in a subdued voice. “When we were in the alley fourteen years ago, she healed herself just like we can. I’ve never said a word about her, because we’ve never seen her again, but that has always bothered me.”

Cybil shrugs her shoulders. “That’s easy enough to explain.”

“Is it?” Gage questions, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

Cybil nods, not letting Gage’s ire bother her. She is getting used to his mood swings and the pent up anger that boils to the surface from time to time. “Yes,” she answers. “She pressed her hands to your wound. Your blood mixed with hers, and that simple action passed your healing ability to her.” She steps forward and grabs his arms, wrapping them around her body. As they hold each other, she whispers against his chest, “Your Mom had another baby that you don’t know anything about, Gage. You need to go talk to your dad.”

Gage feels his body shudder against his will at the thought of visiting his father. The man had tormented him during his entire childhood, blaming him for what had happened to his mother and baby sister. Gage has avoided him ever since he had gotten old enough to take care of himself. He didn’t relish the thought of seeking the old man out now, even if he is reported to be sober. He stares down into Cybil’s face, allowing himself to get lost in her eyes to help keep himself calm. Before he realizes what is happening, his lips are pressed against hers, and he has her down on the couch.

“Ahem,” Quinn’s voice, filled with amusement, interrupts the two of them. “Sorry to interrupt, guys,” she states. “Fox and Layla are going to try to link up and see if they can see where the girl is in the present. I told them to give me a few minutes to make sure the two of you are decent.” She laughs. She purposefully avoids calling the girl Gage’s sister, sensing he isn’t quite ready to accept that it might be true.

Cybil breaks away from the kiss she is sharing with Gage and nods her head. “Tell them to come on in.” She turns back and looks into Gage’s eyes. “We’ll finish our discussion later.” As Quinn disappears back into the kitchen to get the others, she takes Gage’s hands into her own and squeezes them gently. “Let’s see if Fox and Layla can see her or not before you decide whether to go see your dad or not. When he nods his silent agreement, she leans over and gives him one more tender kiss before settling beside him on the couch.


End file.
